Posts tagged ‘oil’

The US exported more than 3 million b/d of crude for the second week in a row in the week ended June 7, aided by macroeconomic factors that have made US oil prices more attractive.

According to S&P Global Platts Analytics data, more than 3.18 million b/d was exported from the US last week, down slightly from the estimated 3.35 million that was exported during the week ended May 31. The Energy Information Administration reported US crude exports averaging more than 3 million b/d since the week ending May 24.

On the vast, desolate plains of southern Patagonia, Compañía General de Negocios is stepping up drilling and exploration where few companies operate, an emerging trend of widening the search for oil and natural gas in Argentina.

“The resource is very large,” Hugo Eurnekian, president of the Argentinian company, said of southern Santa Cruz province. “If this resource was in the United States, there would be hundreds of companies working, but there are only three.”

OPEC is learning the dangers of dealing with the Kremlin. President Vladimir Putin now has the group’s Middle East kingpin Saudi Arabia over a barrel and can name his own terms to continue their partnership.

The oil cartel depends on extending its alliance with Russia to keep restricting supplies if it stands any chance of engineering a quick rebound in prices.

As world leaders and oil company executives gathered at the St Petersburg Economic Forum from June 6, major figures in the world of oil staked out their position on issues of pricing and supply.

Russian President Vladimir Putin put the onus on Saudi Arabia to make the case for continuing a supply cut agreement set to expire at month’s end, saying that Russia could do fine with an oil price in the range of $60-65/b.

Russia seems to be entering a new stage of sanctions adaptation, building on its growing technological capabilities in energy, as well as access to alternative sources of financing to become less dependent on cooperation deals with Western companies.

The collapse of two major deals between Russian and western oil companies in 2019 may indicate that Moscow is now looking to reduce its exposure to Western financing and technology as it braces itself for expected tougher sanctions.

Brazil is stepping on the oil and gas accelerator, hoping to further develop its upstream assets with additional E&P bid rounds later this year – all amid the country’s efforts to improve the investment climate.

The new government, under President Jair Bolsonaro, wants to keep investor interest growing in the energy sector – and beyond. With this goal in mind, representatives of his administration, as well as Brazilian oil and gas companies, have had a strong presence at events in Houston this spring, as they try to court international upstream developers.

Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, spoke to Paul Hickin about the new oil market dynamics unleashed by US shale production, challenges facing Venezuela, and heightened geopolitical risk.

In 2012, Fatih Birol predicted that the US would become the largest oil producer by the end of the decade. In an exclusive interview with S&P Global Platts at the IEA headquarters in Paris, Birol did not hold back in outlining the impact US supply is now having on OPEC. The ardent supporter of Turkish soccer team Galatasaray, who has never driven a car, is also worried that Middle East producers may score an own goal if they do not diversify their economies quickly.

Keeping fuel prices low is a political priority for US President Donald Trump. Just don’t bet on him gambling with America’s emergency oil stocks to achieve a second term in office, at the risk of jeopardizing energy security for the world’s largest economy.

Created in the early 1970s, soon after the oil shock caused by OPEC’s disastrous response to the Yom Kippur war, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) remains arguably America’s most important economic buffer. Ironically, the first oil pumped into the giant salt caverns acquired by the US government was shipped from Saudi Arabia.